History of scientific organizations and institutions

The Fellowship

There is a tendency to view the history of science as a series of individual achievements, with scientific knowledge moving directly from investigator to investigator, one mind to another mediated only by the awareness of individual researchers of the work of their predecessors. Yet, modern science is often as much a collective as an individual effort and the history of science contains a number of important instances in which institutions, membership associations, groups and networks of collaborating and competing investigators and other collective efforts figure importantly. And it isn’t just formal insstitutions and organizational and bureaucratic ties that bring this about. Also important are informal associations and collegial, reputational and other networks.

Awareness of such networks is not only important in contemporary terms. It also counters many conventional images of sciences originating in the minds of individual investigators working alone. One of the most important and interesting of such networks in 17th century British history of science, for example, is what John Gribbin calls “the fellowship” .

His is a tale involving both nationally important organizations and international networks. Gribbin traces a remarkable set of relationships mediated through the Royal Society of London and Oxford of many of the most prominent 17th century scientists. William Gilbert , Francis Bacon , William Harvey , Robert Hooke , Robert Boyle, Samuel Pepys, John Wilkins , Christopher Wren, and Isaac Newton were among the many who formed what might be termed the social organization of 17th century English science. And their awareness of and communication with other, non-British investigators, including Galileo is also well documented by Gribbin and other historians of science.